Archon, a sphere-shaped robot

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ARCHON Abstract Korea Intelligent Robot Contest Gold Prize Sponsor: Korea Institute of Robot and Convergence Six of a Team March - November 2010 Club Activity Supervisor: Prof. Jaebok Song

KIRC (Korea Intelligent Robot Contest) is an intelligent robotics competition which began in 1999. It is now the largest intelligent robotics competition in Korea. KAsimov, which I am a member of, is my school’s intelligent robot club with numerous robot competition awards. I participated in a competition with 5 other members in 2010 and took the role of robot design. We came up with a sphere shaped robot Archon, which moved using a pendulum weight. Previous sphere shaped robots used a rotational wheel which contacted the inner part of the sphere to roll. On the contrary, Archon had better displacement control by moving according to pendulum weight’s rotating angle. We used 3D CAD tool SolidWorks to design the robot and won a Gold award for completion.


ANNUAL PLAN

IDEATION

Our club always participates KIRO contest and develops a robot under annual plan.

13 club members participated and finally Sphere Shape Security Robot was selected.

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Ideation Research CAD Making 1st Test Circuit Coding 2nd Test Finalizing Contest

Nov

Red - 3 points, Blue - 2 points, Yellow - 1 point.

Report Writing Robot

Moving Fan Robot With Heat Sensor

2008

2009

Auto Moving Refrigerator Robot

Fly Swatter Robot

2010

Auto Moving Market Cart Robot

Sphere Shape Security Robot

Transforming Robot

K.U.I.S (Silver)

ㅇㅅㅇ (Cancelled by H1N1)

Archon (Gold)

2011

2012

2013

Biomimetic Frog Robot

Cleaning Robot

Laputa (Bronze & Patent)

Vega&Dabih (Bronze)

Variant (Silver)

Rock Scissors Paper Robot

Multi-leg Robot Quadcopter Robot


RESEARCH

FUNCTION AND TECHNOLOGY

Moving Motion

Sphere shaped robot has following advantages; even if it runs into human, no one hurts because there is no angular part; the body of the robot can be also wheel so it moves smoothly; it gives people calm feeling in comparison with other cold robots.

Measuring Distance

Positioning

REC

Data Transfer

Recording

Driving

We want to realize the above functions.

EXISTING ROBOTS

And we decided to show the functions with these technology.

Acrylic Ball

PSD Infra-red Sensor

GPS Sensor

Bluetooth

Webcam

Pendulum

Existing sphere shaped robots are steered by controller. We wanted to make robot that moves itself with sensors.


1ST DESIGN DEVELOPMENT The sphere is quite squashed by its weight. So the wheel should be vertically movable. Ideal Situation, R = Constant

Real Situation, R > r

R

R

Circuit Board

r

R

Motor x2

Guide Rail

Battery

Wheel

Motor

There are so many extra components that do not affect actual performance such as a guide rail. This parts increase weight of the robot and make it look a lump of scrap metal.


1ST PROTOTYPE RADAR CHART Mobility Ea sin e

O ss

2

fM ng aki

Con tro lA cc

3

y ac ur

Aesthe tic

inality Orig

1

Rang eO f

Mo tio n

ASSEMBLY

t igh We

1ST TEST

ANALYSIS Mobility (3) Easiness Of Making (2) Aesthetic (1) Weight (1) Range Of Motion (2)

The robot moves easily because the wheel rotates it directly. There are so many components. It seems complicated and looks like scrap iron. The frame is big and heavy. Driving range of mobility is limited.

Originality (1)

There is no difference with existing robots.

Control Accuracy (2)

It is difficult to define position because of clearance.


2ND DESIGN DEVELOPMENT ‘It is so boring. Could we make it more precise?’ We decided to improve further. It has advantage of controlling the robot because there is no spinning with no traction. : Radius of sphere : Rotation angle of battery : Rotation angle of sphere’s axis

Circuit Board

Motor (Body)

Motor (Arms)

Battery (Weight)

The structure of the robot is much simpler than previous version. Also, it is much lighter due to reducing components.


2ND PROTOTYPE RADAR CHART

2ND TEST

Mobility

inality Orig

t igh We

Rang eO f

ASSEMBLY

1

Recording with bulit-in cam

Aesthe tic

COMPONENTS

Climbing a slope way

ng aki

Driving on an uneven road

2

fM

Avoiding Obstacles

Ea sin e

O ss

Con tro lA cc

3

y ac ur

Mo tio n

ANALYSIS Mobility (2)

It is difficult to accelerate the robot because it moves by weight.

Easiness Of Making (2)

There are fewer components but it is very dense to assemble.

Aesthetic (3)

1. Bluetooth / 2. Cam & PSD Sensor / 3. Battery & Weight / 4. Buckle

It seems simpler and neater.

Weight (2)

It is lighter because of fewer components

Range Of Motion (3)

It can change its direction freer because there is no bother the weight pendulum.

Originality (3)

There is a distinct difference with existing robots on the principle.

Control Accuracy (3)

It is accurate because we have only to calculate the amount of angle of change.


KOREA INTELLIGENT ROBOT CONTEST




Conclusion Archon can calculate distance easier than original sphere shaped robots. Archon moves as much as the weight pendulum rotated angle, making less room for error. Reducing error is an important part of making intelligent autonomous robots, which must understand its own movements. Through this competition, members can receive feedback and get a better understanding of robots. I also learned to apply mechanical knowledge to design and manufacturing process and learned to work as a team. Due to cost issues, we were not able to purchase a full acryl sphere so we filled up the clearance using a buckle. However, if the robot is sealed inside an assembled full acryl sphere, it will not cause injury upon collision with people and it can be utilized in unmanned reconnaissance robot with upgrades such as water-paws in its surface.


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